Alejandro Giammattei had thrice been rejected by voters in his previous designs on the presidency
GUATEMALANS DID not like the options before them in the presidential run-off of August 11th. But they had to make a choice.
Preliminary results on August 12th gave Mr Giammattei 58% of the vote, against 42% for Ms Torres. Her United Hope party, just about the only well-oiled machine in the country, dominated in rural areas, but she is reviled in the capital, from where Mr Giammattei hails. The election was always going to turn on how well Ms Torres’s get-out-the-vote operation in the countryside would work. With a turnout of just 42%, it seems that she failed to get it firing.
Violence in Guatemala has fallen in the past decade. Its murder rate is less than half that of Baltimore. But extortion remains a common gripe. Beyond sending police with guns into violent neighbourhoods, Mr Giammattei does not seem to have much of a plan to strengthen the rule of law.
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